Monthly Archives: July 2009

Hey there!! Hope all your weekends are going along swimmingly :) Mine’s been pretty dull, as per usual. But that’s okay since I had an awesome cottage trip last weekend.

So today I wanted to talk a little bit about packing lunches for the office. Honestly, I feel kind of silly even talking about this, because I bet there are so many people who do it better than I!! (have you seenJanetha’s rockin’ office hummus platters?)

Plus, this is also the first office I’ve ever worked in. All my past jobs have been in cafes/delis, where the food was already waiting for me at work ;) Although, that’s also what led to my weight gain…

Anyways, my office days are every Saturday and Sunday, and I have to be there for 5am. While most days I wake up earlier to make a nice breakfast, there is no way I’m doing that at that hour. So I prepare all my food the night before.

I usually start with making a breakfast cookie.

1/2 cup rolled oats

2/3 scoop chocolate whey powder

1 tbsp shredded coconut

1 tbsp cashew almond butter

few chocolate chips

few splashes unsweetened vanilla almond milk

All spread out on a plate and popped in the fridge for the night…
It should be mentioned that I was a little heavy handed on the almond milk with this one. You can tell by how much liquid there is on the top.

Then I mixed up a snack of mango, yogurt and cottage cheese.

And because I eat lunch at 10am, I like to stick to the breakfast foods. I always pack the same lunch, but I love it and it satisfies my tummy!!

My alarm went off at 4:30 am and I immediately got up, scraped the breakfast cookie off the plate, flipped it over, and popped it in the freezer.

It especially needed it this morning! I usually shower the night before my early shifts to save time in the morning. So I just washed my face/teeth and painted my face back on while french pressing coffee to bring with me. Then I packed up all the goodies from the fridge/freezer and was off to work!

As soon as I get to work, I eat my cookie with my coffee while checking e-mails and seeing what disasters happened overnight.

I really like bringing breakfast cookies to the office because they’re portable and easy to munch on while I work. I’ve tried bars, and oatmeals, but this just works best for me. Plus, it’s like a special treat for waking myself up so early :)

Around 7:45 I yanked out my mango mess. Then at 10, I toasted my english muffin in the staff room toaster and microwaved my tupperware of egg whites for two minutes. I spread the laughing cow cheese on the english muffin, cut the egg white pillow in half, and put it on.

Yummm! After eating cold lunches for work all week, it is such a treat to use a toaster and microwave!! Hot food!!

Enjoyed with an orange…

While watching the Tour de France…

Hey now, I still got my work window open on the side :P I watched the finish when I got home, it was sooo good. George Hincapie was so close to getting the yellow jersey!! Ah! I’m totally rooting for team Columbia-HTC. Cavendish has got to get that green jersey, he’s riding a Scott(tie) like me!

Tastes a little protein powdery, but I still liked it just as much the second time around. I’ve seriously gotta start cutting these sketchy bars out of my diet though. I always buy them as “treats,” but I have one almost every day. Which in my opinion, is too often to be consuming candy bars. I’m just going to stop buying them, I bet my wallet will appreciate it too :) If they’re not in the house, then I’ll (hopefully) reach for better snacks when I’m wanting something sweet and chocolate-y.

I’ve at least been eating lots of these little bowls.

Berries, straight up. So fresh and delicious, I don’t want to taint them by adding something else!

For supper I had pigs in a blanket!

Okay, they’re just Yves veggie dogs wrapped in a tortilla. I had veggies and tzatziki on the side. A good, munchy dinner!

My evening snack was all about volume.

1/2 cup Nature’s Path blueberry cinnamon cereal with 1 cup Nature’s Path kamut puff, mixed with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. It was a huge bowl because of the puffs. Not very filling because of that though. Oh, and I doused it with cinnamon, because that makes everything taste better :)

I was going to go for a “long” run today. But I’m feeling pretty sleep deprived, Add some “heavy mist” into the mix, and it didn’t get done. I have a list of things I won’t workout through – sleep deprivation being one of them. I’m just setting myself up for injury or illness that way. Saturday’s are the worst because I can’t nap if I want to get to bed early for my next morning shift.

Instead, I put what little energy I had to finding my bedroom floor. Apparently, I had one underneath all those clothes!

I also added to my wall of accomplishments.

I didn’t get a medal or bib from the triathlon, so I added my swim cap :) Also up there are my sailing certifications and the bib from my first 5k. Anyone else think it’s weird my university diploma isn’t up there? I just noticed that…

Two questions of the day: What is on/would be on your “wall of accomplishments?” aaannnd what is your go-to lunch item to bring to the office?

Welcome to my new blog!!! I was hoping to have a little more content up for the big reveal. But I guess my life is just busier than I thought (okay, okay, and I procrastinated). Feel free to peruse what I do have, I’ll be letting you know as new stuff goes up :)

So first, let’s talk about what you can expect to see on here. I’ll still be doing my usual food pictures and yammering, but maybe just not so much of it. I will be writing more “topical” posts about things that are relevant to the health, food and fitness world. I’ll be sticking to my one post a day format as well.

So what is “The Great Balancing Act?” It’s the everyday challenge we face of sticking to our commitments with work, family, friends, while maintaining the healthiest lives we can. It’s getting up 30 minutes earlier to squeeze in a workout. It’s taking the extra 10 minutes to make a sandwich to bring to work instead of buying one. It’s knowing that if I eat tons of potato chips and a huge slice of pie, that I will still get up tomorrow and eat the best foods I can.

So this little blog is all about being the best we can to ourselves, while balancing it out with the rest of life.

But I won’t mind if we get a little side-tracked along the way ;)

Since I’m technically writing two posts today, this will be short. I want to share some fun stuff that happened today! First, I got up early to go on another great run. My new running sneakers are little miracle workers I tell ya!

Duration: 30:13Distance: 3 milesMax HR: 177Avg HR: 166

I want to share this for two reasons. First, that is a freakin’ fast run for me! Especially since I’m still only easing back into it.

Second, check out those heart rate stats! I was aware that my ticker was pumping away at 177, and I actually felt okay running through it. I think my triathlon training put me in much better cardiovascular shape. Back in January, I would have died on a 166 bpm run, and now it feels like a good sweaty challenge!

The down side? I’m weak as hell. I’m still sore from the C+K challenge 15 minute strength workout I did on Sunday!

New goal: Keep improving my cardiovascular fitness, adding both speed and distance to my cycling and running workouts, while improving my strength.How: Running twice a week, cycling twice a week, two strength workouts a week (including one full session dedicated to only heavy lifting).

I see a lot of huffing and puffing and soreness in my future :P

Okay, eats time!

I am l-o-v-i-n these instant oats.

I mixed one packet with 1 cup water, 1 tbsp soy protein powder, half a banana and one heaping tablespoon peanut butter. I urge all you stove-top snobs to give this stuff a try (if you’re in Canada). It makes for the perfect quick, post-run fuel :)

Tonight’s dinner featured fresh trout. I stopped buying fresh fish because it is so expensive, but I found a huge filet on sale for $3.50!

I put maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and crushed pecans on top, and wrapped it in tinfoil with some eggplant. Baking at 425 F for about 15-20 minutes.

I had frozen veggies on the side with some Classico roasted garlic tomato sauce (also on sale!). It was a YUM dinner. I still have half the filet left!

Don’t forget to update all your readers and blogrolls with the new address! My blogroll is a work in progress, I still have more to add, so drop me a line if you want your piece of the internet on there too :)

Coming up on the blog: Packing healthy lunches for work

Thanks for stopping by my new home! I’m SO excited to be embarking on this new journey! Thanks for coming along for the ride! :D

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Welcome!

My name is Susan, I'm a 20-something living in Atlantic Canada and this is my blog about... me. I used to blog about food and fitness, but that all changed in June 2011 when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After six months of chemotherapy, I was declared cancer-free in January 2012. I now write about anything and everything as I stumble through my post-cancer world. I'm a trained journalist currently working as a writer/researcher. I also have a background in personal fitness training and nutrition. Welcome to my piece of the internet!
See my About page or Top Posts page for more.

Contact

E-mail me at: thegreatbalancingact@gmail.com

Due to my current illness, please be patient for responses to e-mails and comments. If anything is urgent, please let me know!